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Earlier this week, I discovered the 101 Things in 1001 Days Challenge, and I love the idea. Being unemployed takes a toll on the psyche, so it would be really great to set myself some goals and accomplish them on a regular basis.

The tasks I chose span a wide range. There’s self-improvement, there’s entertainment, there’s travel, there’s Big Life Planning, there’s small organization, and lots and lots in between. Some of them will be easy and fun to do, and some of them will be big and difficult. But I look forward to nailing them, and to writing about them as well!

Start date: January 14, 2017End date: October 12, 2019

Big Life Stuff

1. Get a full-time job: accomplished 2/28/2017
2. Be able to explain my career goals more clearly
3. Get my own apartment
4. Get a pet

Self-Improvement Stuff

5. Learn Hebrew
6. Make something from Pinterest
7. Learn the basics of Python
8. Read that meditation book from mom I’ve had for almost a year now (sorry, mom)
9. Meditate 10 days in a row
10. Take professional ukulele lessons
11. Take an improv class at Second City
12. Take a course on Coursera
13. Dye part of my hair a different color (ever since I saw a picture that accidentally looks like I have a single hot pink curl, I can’t get it out of my mind)
14. Get a crochet lesson
15. Learn a legit magic trick from Danny
16. Learn a sentence in Chinese or Mongolian from Kacey
17. Learn to recognize a new constellation

Travel Stuff

18. Visit two new countries -Spain, February 2017
19. Visit Shelby in Salt Lake City
20. Visit Kacey and Krista in Phoenix
21. Visit Christina in Atlanta
22. Visit two other new US cities
23. Visit the Madison Farmers’ Market
24. Spend a day in Milwaukee

29. Read a book alone under a tree
30. Go to a coffee shop alone just to read
31. Leave a good book somewhere for someone else to discover
32. Read two complete book series (serieses?)
33. Read a book grabbed on impulse from the library
34. Read 50 books I own but haven’t read yet (I KNOW, I HAVE A PROBLEM) -3/50 as of 2/22/17

43. Bring a group of friends to see live music of my choice
44. See 10 plays/musicals -The Bodyguard, 1/31/2017
-Gloria, 2/1/2017
-Carmen, 2/28/2017 -Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 3/7/2017
45. Attend three Meetup group meetings -North Side Social Club, 3/10/17
46. Attend a comic con
47. Write a short story
48. Host a potluck dinner with friends
49. Sing karaoke in public
50. Go to a drag show
51. Catch up on Hello From the Magic Tavern (I’m more than halfway there!)
52. Attend a Chicago street festival
53. Play Kingdom Hearts
54. Replay an N64 or GameCube game from my childhood
55. Attend a friend’s performance

Eating Stuff In

56. Make a dessert for someone else
57. Make one of my grandma’s recipes with her
58. Make one of my mom’s recipes with her
59. Make one of my dad’s recipes with him
60. Have a picnic
61. Open a cookbook to a new page and make that recipe
62. Learn what to do with a butternut squash
63. Actually make Yael’s challah recipe

73. Watch Memento together (one of his favorite movies I’ve never seen)
74. Watch What We Do in the Shadows
75. Watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi (and eat sushi)
76. Kiss in the rain
77. Figure out more details for our future (we’ve got a general plan, but details are neat)

Organizational Stuff

78. Upload all of my photos from my computer to Flickr
79. Upgrade my laptop’s iOS
80. Figure out the weird iTunes issue that separates songs into different albums by artist (for example, The Producers soundtrack is split into separate albums – one is Nathan Lane, one is Matthew Broderick, one is Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, etc.)
81. Clean out the trunk of my car82. Fix the hole I keep ignoring in my favorite skinny jeans: accomplished 3/6/2017

Get Stuff

83. Get a Moleskine notebook or planner: accomplished 2/26/2017
84. Buy and use a grown-up candle85. Get an autograph from someone famous (or at least famous to me): accomplished 3/29/2017 (John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War)

93. Look through the Wall Street Journal financial planning book from my grandpa; figure out what applies
94. Put $5 in savings for every task I accomplish: 1, 82, 83, 85
95. Donate $5 to charity for every task I don’t accomplish

Future Stuff

96. Come up with items 97 – 101 as needed
97. Go out dancing with Shelby in Chicago

(Setting goals for the next 2.74 years is fun, but I certainly hope I have new ideas during that time. I don’t want to box in all 101 goals just yet.)

So, this should be a fun 1001 days! I plan on updating this list as I complete them, and hopefully writing some blog posts about the experiences as well. If you want to join me in accomplishing any specific or general goals, I can’t wait to have your company.